CEDL Travel Grant

The Dennis R. and Carol Guagliardo Preston Fund for Diversity in Linguistics was established to support travel awards for linguistics students from underrepresented groups to attend the Annual Meeting. This new endowment will serve as the successor to the Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics’ (CEDL) long-standing travel awards to promote racial and ethnic diversity within the linguistic community, previously supported by LSA general operating funds.

CEDL is awarding students with travel grants to increase the participation of underrepresented ethnoracial minorities in the LSA. Such groups include African Americans, Middle Eastern/Arab/North African, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Americans with an Asian and/or Pacific Islander background. You do not need to be a US citizen to apply. Each grant (maximum $1,000) will assist students in traveling to the next LSA Annual Meeting.

Current students with and without accepted abstracts may apply for one of two types of travel grants:

  1. for graduate students who have not yet completed their linguistics degree program; or
  2. for undergraduates who want to pursue a linguistics graduate degree.

All applications must include:

  1. Personal Statement, applicants should
    1. include a clear description of their project or research interests, focusing on its potential contribution to the field of Linguistics and/or general society;
    2. demonstrate an understanding of the mission of LSA’s Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics;
    3. articulate their advocacy for the importance of ethnoracial diversity to the field of Linguistics and/or general society;
    4. discuss what they hope to contribute to the LSA and CEDL at future meetings; and
    5. explain how and why travel grant funds are needed and will be used.
  2. An official university transcript
  3. A 1-page letter of support by an advisor or professor written on official university letterhead. Letters of support should primarily address the applicant’s current involvement with and potential contributions to the field of Linguistics, their academic standing and rigor, their leadership in advocating for ethnoracial diversity in linguistics, and why the individual is a good candidate for the CEDL travel award to increase ethnoracial diversity in Linguistics for underrepresented minorities.
  4. Graduate student applicants must also provide a full CV.

This Diversity Fund is made possible by a generous gift of $100,000 from the Prestons, who have been longtime participants in LSA Annual Meetings and Institutes. Carol (1943-2019) was an ESL teacher for many years in Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan, and held several teaching and teacher education positions abroad; she earned a BA in Spanish from Marquette and an MA in TESOL from Georgetown. Dennis first joined the LSA in 1975 and was elected a Fellow in 2013. He is a former member of the Executive Committee and was Director of the 2003 Institute. He has taught linguistics as a regular faculty member and visiting professor at many universities in the US and abroad, including, most recently, Michigan State and Oklahoma State and the University of Kentucky. He is also a Fellow of the American Dialect Society and was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Polish Republic in 2004 for service to Polish linguistics.

*Nomination links will only be active during the nomination window. In 2024, nominations are open April 8th - end of day on July 12th. Nominations will not be accepted after this date.

Selection

The Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics’ (CEDL) reviews nominations and makes recommendations to the Executive Committee, which must formally approve the recommendations.
 

Previous Awardees

2024

  1. Marie Tano, Stanford University
  2. Luis David Gaytan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  3. PraiseGod Aminu, University of Pittsburgh

2023

  1. Ke Lin, Georgetown University
  2. Marissa Morgan, University of California Santa Barbara
  3. Toni-Ann Hall, California State University Northridge
  4. Eduardo Lactaoen, University of California Davis
  5. Nicky Macias, Gallaudet University

2022

  1. Benardo Relampagos, Portland State University
  2. Mskwaankwad Rice, University of Minnesota
  3. Tamaya Levy, Northeastern Illinois University
  4. Mohammed Jamil Al-Ariqy, University of Utah
  5. Zachary Ty Gill, University of Kentucky

2020

  1. Amber Camp, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  2. Luana Lamberti, The Ohio State University
  3. Jamaal Muwwakkil, University of California, Santa Barbara
  4. Charmaine Perry, California State University, Long Beach
  5. Sarah Phillips, New York University

2019

  1. Tynisha Brice, University of Pittsburgh
  2. Brenda Guadalupe García Ortega, California State University, Fullerton
  3. Joyhanna Yoo Garza, University of California, Santa Barbara
  4. deandre miles-hercules, University of California, Santa Barbara
  5. Stefanie Reed, University of California, San Diego
  6. Suttera Samonte, University of California, Irvine

2018

  1. José Fernández Guerrero, Cornell University
  2. Christina Goodson, University of Oklahoma
  3. Monica Do, University of Southern California
  4. Kendra Calhoun, University of California, Santa Barbara
  5. Minnie Quartey Annan, Georgetown University

2016

  1. Morgan Johnson, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
  2. Andrea Kortenhoven, Stanford University
  3. Megan Lukaniec, University of California Santa Barbara
  4. Ayesha Malik, University of Texas at San Antonio

2015

  1. Kendra Calhoun, UC Santa Barbara
  2. Tracy Conner, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  3. Megan Figueroa, University of Arizona
  4. Rachelle Riojas, Wayne State University 

2014

  1. Deanna Gagne, University of Connecticut
  2. Sharese King, Stanford University
  3. Dominique Corley, Cornell University
  4. Erica Verde, Florida International University